RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)


    • After Nudging: The Rise and Fall of a Behavioral Economics Fad

      Source: The Daily Economy
      by Richard Morrison

      “The zeal of the convert can be a terrifying force to behold. An acolyte convinced of their own prior heresy will often be a more thorough inquisitor than the native-born believer. This dynamic may help explain why It’s on You by Nick Chater and George Loewenstein is so shrill and devoid of self-awareness. Having been leading researchers in behavioral psychology and economics who sought to manipulate individuals into ostensibly healthier and smarter choices — the world of ‘nudge’ theory — they are doing a righteous penance by exposing the flaws of their former discipline.” (05/01/26)

      https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/after-nudging-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-behavioral-economics-fad/

    • Calling the court illegitimate is the left’s latest assault on the Constitution

      Source: Fox News
      by Jonathan Turley

      “The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais took 36 pages to explain why Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is about combating intentional racial discrimination, not allowing racial gerrymandering. However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrapped it up in one word: ‘illegitimate.’ Jeffries was not speaking of the case, but of the court. The man who would become the next speaker of the House if Democrats retake power in November has joined other radicals in denying the legitimacy of the nation’s highest court. Just for the record, the Supreme Court did not strike down Section 2, but it said neither the law nor the Constitution allows legislators to manipulate district lines to guarantee that candidates of a particular race will be elected.” (05/01/26)

      https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-calling-court-illegitimate-lefts-latest-assault-constitution

    • AI in an Age of Humanity

      Source: Law & Liberty
      by Spencer A Klavan

      “The media theorist Marshall McLuhan became famous in certain circles for insisting that the real importance of a new tool can be found in ‘the medium — that is, all the side-effects, all the unintended patterns and changes.’ He was anticipated in this by Plato, who had Socrates hint in a story that ‘the person who produces an instrument of technology is not the same as the person who can judge whether it helps or harms those who use it.’ If that’s true, then we would expect to find the architects of AI struggling to predict and control the ends it will be made to serve.” (05/01/26)

      https://lawliberty.org/forum/ai-in-an-age-of-humanity/

    • The Self-Driving Car Fight in Congress Isn’t Really About Safety at All

      Source: Reason
      by Andrew Miller

      “To put American traffic deaths in perspective, consider the Miami Marlins. Since 2012, the baseball team has played its home games at the stadium now called LoanDepot Park. The field’s official capacity is 36,742, roughly the number of Americans who die in traffic crashes every year. America loses a baseball stadium’s worth of lives to vehicular accidents every 12 months. For the first time, there’s a way to prevent many, and perhaps most, of those deaths: self-driving cars. But self-driving cars are controversial. Some worry about safety. Others worry about jobs.” (05/01/26)

      https://reason.com/2026/05/01/the-self-driving-car-fight-in-congress-isnt-really-about-safety-at-all/

    • Straight Talk on Tariffs

      Source: Free Association
      by Sheldon Richman

      “Trump wants us to think that tariffs — his favorite word — are paid by exporters; you know, those crafty foreign manufacturers who’ve been exploiting us American naifs from time immemorial. Stop the presses! He’s wrong. To state what should have been known, U.S. tariffs are taxes that American importers of foreign-made goods pay to customs officials at ports of entry. While under unusual market conditions, an American importer might persuade an exporter to lower his price to offset the tariff, this did not happen with most of Trump’s tariffs.” (5/01/26)

      https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-straight-talk-on-tariffs

    • May Day Was a Reminder That We Make the World Run

      Source: In These Times
      by Hamilton Nolan

      “May Day is for the workers. In some beautiful future, every worker will get May Day off. One day. But not yet. For now, it can also serve as a day when you remember the workers who are still working, and think about how you could make their lives better. On my way from Brooklyn to the May Day rally in Washington Square Park yesterday, I saw all the people working who make New York City work. The Mexican construction crew sitting in a line against a concrete wall on my block, covered in dust, taking a break from building the building across the street. The woman selling them lunches out of a big plastic cooler. The woman pulling hot metal trays out of the steam table at the restaurant on the corner.” (05/02/26)

      https://inthesetimes.com/article/may-day-workers-labor-movement-new-york-city

    • One Big Reason Iran Thinks It Has the Advantage

      Source: The American Conservative
      by Ted Snider

      “As Iranians marked the failure of the U.S. military to defeat their country and indeed celebrated a perceived victory, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and head of the negotiating team, Mohammad Ghalibaf, insisted that ‘we are not stronger than the United States in military power.’ Ghalibaf suggested Iran shouldn’t expect to ‘destroy’ the enemy, but instead should translate its battlefield gains into diplomatic leverage. U.S. officials have shown less humility. … Though Iran has been hammered, Ghalibaf may be right to think the Islamic Republic has won diplomatic leverage — and the proud people of Iran whom he chided may be closer to the truth than the boastful Americans. The most obvious source of newfound diplomatic leverage for Iran is its effective control of the Strait of Hormuz, but battlefield outcomes have also made Tehran think it has the advantage in negotiations.” (0501/26)

      https://www.theamericanconservative.com/one-big-reason-iran-thinks-it-has-the-advantage/